For businesses large and small, relying on a cloud-based collaboration and productivity suite such as Microsoft Office 365 is becoming the norm. Enhancing productivity in your organisation is vital to get ahead in 2017 - and using Office 365 can help, if it's used right...

WikiLeaks publishes thousands of hacked Sony Pictures documents

Material 'belongs in the public domain', says whistleblowing site

Sony continues to suffer from the fallout of the hack on its Sony Pictures Entertainment business and has now seen the plundered haul of documents and emails shared by WikiLeaks.

The documents have been released to highlight a relationship between government and industry, according to WikiLeaks, and are supported with a Google search facility for easy study.

"Now published in a fully searchable format the Sony Archives offer a rare insight into the inner workings of a large, secretive multinational corporation," explained WikiLeaks.

"The work publicly known from Sony is to produce entertainment. However, the Sony Archives show that behind the scenes this is an influential corporation, with ties to the White House, [and] an ability to impact laws and policies, and with connections to the US military-industrial complex."

Sony said in a note to Twitter: "We are writing to confirm, as we believe Twitter is already well aware, that Sony Pictures Entertainment does not consent to Twitter's or any Twitter account holder's possession, review, copying, dissemination, publication, uploading, downloading, or making any use of the stolen information and to request your cooperation in suspending the account holder's Twitter account and the account of any other user seeking to disseminate the stolen information via Twitter."

This kind of argument is unlikely to hold any weight at WikiLeaks, the organisation led by the currently exiled Julian Assange, who described the content as "newsworthy".

"This archive shows the inner workings of an influential multinational corporation," he said. "It is newsworthy and at the centre of a geo-political conflict. It belongs in the public domain. WikiLeaks will ensure it stays there."

Sony has disputed the public interest claim in a widely reported statement, saying that the leak puts its own workers at risk.

"The cyber attack on Sony Pictures was a malicious criminal act, and we strongly condemn the indexing of stolen employee and other private and privileged information on WikiLeaks," said the statement.

"The attackers used the dissemination of stolen information to try to harm Sony Pictures Entertainment and its employees, and now WikiLeaks regrettably is assisting them in that effort.

"We vehemently disagree with WikiLeaks' assertion that this material belongs in the public domain and will continue to fight for the safety, security and privacy of our company and its more than 6,000 employees."